Finally saw "The Prestige" last week . . .

[revdorothyl]

I finally saw the movie "The Prestige" last week (because I wanted to use up a free movie pass before I forgot about it and because it's got Hugh Jackman, after all, and I'd just caught the end of "Empire of the Sun" on AMC that morning and had been reminded of what a cute kid Christian Bale was), and although I wouldn't say it was badly done, I can't say that I enjoyed it. At all.

In fact, I felt badly in need of some sort of psychic shower, afterwards, to remove the mental "ickyness" left by the fact that none of the major characters in this film (the men, anyways) turned out to have anything remotely close to a full soul of their own, judging by the casual cruelties and general lack of empathy they displayed toward everyone else.

*mentally shudders*

Call me a "sissy", but . . . all I can say about the characters played by Jackman and Bale and even Michael Caine and David Bowie was, in the end, "Ewwww...!"

Comments

[dalmeny]

I very much enjoyed the film but I agree about the lack of morality of the lead characters.

[revdorothyl.livejournal.com]

It just seemed like such a waste! For me, the whole movie felt like watching a psychological car-wreck with multiple fatalities happening in slow motion, right before my eyes, and no possibility of doing anything to stop it or ameliorate the damage being done. Excrutiating! Well-done, but for me personally (with my tendency to think that I or someone else should jump in there and DO something!) it was agonizing at times.

[dalmeny]

I'd had the advantage of reading the novel beforehand, so at least I was prepared.